Serving Port Washington, Manorhaven, Flower Hill, Baxter Estates, Port Washington North and Sands Point
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Friday, January 31, 2020
Vol. 5, No. 5
Port WashingtonTimes HEALTH & WELLNESS
VILLAGE TO ‘REVISIT’ MARIJUANA BAN
CALL FOR STATE PROBE OF COMPTROLLER HACKING
PAGES 31-42
PAGE 2
PAGE 9
North residents mixed on movie studio idea
POM-POMS!
Mill Ponders clash on Grumman Studios owner’s production plans BY R O S E W E L D ON Residents of Port Washington North are divided over an idea to build a film production studio on a 13-acre property formerly occupied by Publishers Clearing House. At a meeting of the village’s Board of Trustees last Wednesday, Mayor Robert Weitzner emphasized that the property’s owner, Parviz Farahzad, who also owns Grumman Studios in Bethpage, had not yet filed an application to build with the village. “Right now, this is a village hearing. We’re looking to allow a use and perhaps allow some height; this is not a formal application of an applicant,” Weitzner said. “But since there is an applicant out there who is considering this use, and since the only way we can allow it to come in is if we were to allow this use, this becomes more or less our hearing, for now.” An article of the village’s code
lists offices, laboratories, food establishments, storage facilities, health clubs and similar businesses as permitted uses. The village is considering adding a section to include “movie and film studio” in the permitted uses. The mayor also said that no environmental studies had been given to the village and that the architectural renderings presented that night would be the first time the board had seen them. Architect Alex Badalamente of Patchogue-based BLD Architecture said that the building would be approximately 90,000 square feet, housing six studios. One plan, he said, called for the structure’s maximum height to be 65 feet, while another called for it to be 55 feet tall. On each side, it would be 120 feet away from residential areas. Renderings of the project’s landscaping, presented by Robert Retnauer of St. James-based firm RDA Landscape Architecture, atContinued on Page 59
PHOTO BY ROSE WELDON
North Shore Animal League America rescued 40 Pomeranians from a backyard breeding operation in Georgia. They arrived at Animal League’s Port Washington headquarters on Sunday morning. See more photos on page 12.
Manorhaven mayor ticketed after hitting car BY R O S E W E L D ON Manorhaven Mayor Jim Avena was ticketed by police after crashing into a car in Port Washington last Wednesday evening, the Port Washington
Police District said.` Assistant Chief Kevin McCarroll said Avena was ticketed by a member of the Port police for leaving the scene of an incident of property damage to a vehicle on Shore Road. The
amount of damage was not disclosed. The Nassau County Police Department’s Office of Public Information could not confirm an anonymous tipster’s claim Continued on Page 69
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